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We spent the first few hours in silence. When we reached Landre, the weather changed, dark clouds marring the sky. Lennox sighed. “It’s almost monsoon season.”
“I guess it’s good we make this trip now.”
He hummed a reply and urged the kelpie around a dip in the forest floor but offered nothing more. My body still ached with the loss of Sai, but I was tired of not speaking. So much had happened in the last day. I’d gained a brother, and I could feel his heartache. “I’m sorry things didn’t go well with Shaan.”
Lennox tensed and cleared his throat. “I deserve it.”
I turned where I could see his face, and he shifted the reins to one hand. “Why do you say it like that?”
“Like what?”
The kelpie’s hooves crackled over limbs as the creature trundled up a slope. “Like you don’t deserve forgiveness.”
“I don’t… not Shaan’s, at least.”
“You should have let me ask for your zevar back.”
A sigh spilled past his lips and warmed my neck. “He can return it when he’s ready. He’s right to keep it at least as long as I had his.”
“I don’t think you’re being fair to yourself. You had the Seelie to think about. I know you’ve hurt Shaan, but that wasn’t your purpose.” That’s how Sai’s actions were with me, after all. He was looking out for his team and family and the Prasanna fairies who relied on him.
“And yet, I harmed him regardless.”
“Maybe with more time he’ll give you another chance?”
“No, Lira.” Lennox’s voice came scratchy. “I believe Shaan and I ever being anything more than tangled together to protect our courts is behind us now.”
His voice trembled, and I squeezed his arm. He clicked his tongue and urged the kelpie into a faster gait, forcing me to turn back around. We fell into quiet once more. I wanted to beg Shaan on Lennox’s behalf to give him another chance. But that wasn’t my place. I’d already overstepped in their relationship, and it had done nothing but harm my own relationship with Sai’s brother. As much as it hurt, I’d have to leave it to them to figure out—or not.
It was late afternoon when we approached the troops, the sun low against the horizon and gleaming over long grass, lighting up the field. Thousands of fairies rode kelpies and carried weapons.
My breathing picked up. They really meant to attack the Prasanna. This wasn’t just for show.
“We have to sell this, Lennox,” I said. “We have to make these people feel some sense of loyalty to us.”
“Don’t worry about my role in that.” He shifted our kelpie down towards the valley. “My entire life has been an act.”
He didn’t give me time to respond before he urged the creature into a gallop. His posture straightened as we clambered before the army.
“Prince Lennox,” someone said, then his name echoed across the crowd.
He jumped down and raised his hand to help me dismount. Soldiers cleared a path and Lennox offered me an arm and walked us before King Carrington.
Until that moment, I hadn’t really thought about the fact that this man was my father. I hadn’t had time. We’d barely made it back to the Prasanna palace after Sai’s near death when I’d gone to speak with Lennox. I’d hastily planned to leave and spent the entire trip missing Sai and worrying over Lennox.
Seeing the King glaring down from his saddle, his gray streaked hair tucked under his glistening crown, it hit me. This man—who was every bit as wicked as Mother—was my heritage. Anxiety flooded through me. I longed to call on Sai’s true name again, but I didn’t know if the connection would share my feelings, and I didn’t want to risk worrying him.
I tightened my arm around Lennox and smiled up at him. The soldiers probably saw adoration in my gaze. They wouldn’t be wrong, but what I hoped I conveyed to Lennox was that we would face this together. He wasn’t alone.
He offered me a gentle expression then shifted towards our father and plastered a fake smile that stretched his cheeks out. The sunset gave his skin a golden sheen and even lacking his crown he looked every part the perfect prince. He bowed deeply. “It is my honor, Father, to return with Lira of the Seelie.”
At the introduction, I ducked my head. I wasn’t Lira of the Seelie. I belonged with Sai. But this was the game. A woman beside the King cheered and others around her joined until the echo of it thundered around. “Lennox, the hero!” A roar broke out amongst the troops. “Praise Prince Lennox.”
The excitement picked up, but the King stared at us. The man next to him with a gray-flecked beard smiled. “Well seen, Prince. You’ve done our people proud today.”
Lennox nodded but didn’t return the man’s smile as his eyes darted back to our father. The King’s jaw shifted, and he inclined his head. “Very good, Lennox.” He spoke dryly, his lips a brittle line of disapproval. Lennox had gone perfectly still beside me, his expression easy, his shoulders still rolled back. The crowd likely saw a hard-but-respectable king and an honorable prince.
But the way Lennox clenched my arm against him had grown almost uncomfortable, and I swore I could feel the buzz of magic around us, like he’d swallow himself down under glamours until he drowned beneath them.
